|
Pigeon colours
The first names
Names for colours in pigeons
usually have little in common with the colour names in everyday
life. The names should not and could not be more than a rough
orientation. More than 100 years ago, the geneticist Cole had
already noted this for the original colour blue: The blue of pigeons
also has nothing in common with the blue of some exotic birds, it
belonged more to the grey tones (Cole 1918). Bechstein had already
felt this earlier. In 1807 he wrote of 'light greys' and 'dark ash
greys' without it having any influence on subsequent literature. The
latter possibly today's smoky or dirty blues. Also, under 'red'
pigeon fanciers imagine something different than a master painter
would. He would think of pigeon red as brown or bronze. White, black
and yellow are more harmless.
  
Fig. 1: Blue Rock Pigeon, Black, (Recessive) Red
and Yellow at Domestic Pigeons
Newcomers and outsiders will
not be able to change much in terms that have been introduced,
because they have burnt themselves deeply into the literature and
the language of pigeon keepers over the centuries. For example, in
his Ornithology, published in Latin in 1555 and in German in 1557,
Gessner already wrote of blue, red, waxy yellow, mealy and
sparrowhawk colours for domestic pigeons. In addition to white and
black, various piebald colours were described, which Bechstein
presents in 1807 in a very differentiated manner.
Names for exceptional colourings.
With the diffusion of
domestic pigeon breeding and the diversification of the range of
colours, there was also a need to emphasise colours that were
considered exceptional. Buffon's colours in France in 1772 included
among others fire colour, chestnut, walnut and hyacinth at Pouter
(Pigeon Grosse Gorge) as ancestors of the today laced Cauchois.
Boitard and Corbié additionally listed the peach-flower-coloured
ones among the 'Pigeons Maillés', already removed from croppers in
1824. They also already recognised genetic connections. From the
crossing of bronze-laced and white-laced pigeons, walnut-coloured
ones are produced. The mating of these back to white-laced results,
among others, in peached flower ones (p. 32). On the breed see
Jürgen Schulz, Cauchois. Portrait of a French Breed Pigeon, German
language, published by the Special Club 1987).
 
Fig. 2: Cauchois peach blossom coloured, bronze
laced, at Buffon’s time fire coloured) and blue white laced (at
Buffon’s time hyazinth)
  
Fig. 3: English Almond Tumbler (Eaton, J.M., A
Treatise on the Art of Breeding and Managing the Almond Tumbler,
London 1851), English Short-Faced Tumblers Kite and Rot Agate.
In the German-speaking
world, 'Harlekins' was the name for variegated pigeon, some of which
resembled the Almond Tumbler in England with a yellow-brown (almond)
desired basic colouration. The black sprinkles and brightenings in
the primaries and tail are typical for all of them. Tricolour was
supposed to say something similar in old literature. Reds with white
spots in the Almond breeding were given the name Agate after the
often red and white gemstone, Kites as a second complementary colour
were named after the black milan.
Isabell was so popular as a
name that it was given to at least four gene combinations that are
distinguished today. For a long time it was not known why the
breeding results of some variants were so poor.
Lavender was a popular name.
Tegetmeier (1868) used it, Fulton described self barless Ice Pigeons
this way in 1876. Later the term briefly passed to khaki pigeons (Metzelaar
1928), and in English to (heterozygous) ash pigeons and light
silver-grey Lahores (Levi 1969).
Fig. 4: Ice Pigeon Varieties at R. Fulton, The
Illustrated Book of Pigeons, London, Paris, New York, Melbourne
1876.
The name gold was probably
first claimed for gold gimpel-pigeon, copper for copper gimpel-pigeons,
bronze as a synonym for the description of the body plumage of
copper gimpels (Schachtzabel 1910).
  
Fig. 5: Gimpel Pigeons Blackwings Copper and
Gold; Maltese Pigeon Gold (genetically different from Gimpel-Pigeons,
the combination of homozygous recessive red and homozygous pale)
Naming of hereditary factors
Almond, Isabell, Lavender,
Peach Blossom, etc., were intended to indicate similarities of the
respective colour, independent of genetic considerations or
commonalities with other colourings. In pigeon fancier circles
before 1900 and shortly thereafter, nothing was known about
hereditary factors that were responsible for the similarities of
certain colourings. It was only with the spread of Mendelian thought
that genetic 'codes' were searched for, for the combination of
hereditary factors that produced this colouring, and in slightly
different combinations, similar colourings. A puzzle, the solution
of which made it easier to selectively breed colours.
Sprinkles - Stipper
For Almonds, the puzzle of
sprinkling and the regular occurrence of white juvenile cocks in
breeding was solved as early as 1925 by Christie and Wriedt. They
did not intend to clarify the Almond colouration genetically, but to
a large extent they did. They wanted to find the causes of
sprinkling in domestic pigeons. For this purpose, they had not only
analysed almonds in breeding trials, but also sprinkled grey
stippers and other intermediate colourings. Danish Tumblers with the
stipper gene (Staenkede), which originated from crosses with English
almonds, were examined. Today there are Brown Stippers, Yellow
Stippers and Grey Sippers in the standard terminology. Brown and
yellow stippers correspond to a large extent to English almond
Tumblers and partly to multicoloured Tumblers. As a result, all
colourings were found to have a factor which, according to the
findings, temporarily (in the heterozygous cocks and, sex-related,
hemizygous females) or almost completely (in the homozygous cocks)
restricts pigment formation or supply to the feathers (Hollander
1983). The homozygous Stipper-cocks are accompanied by health
problems. Almonds are thus stippers in which the brown-yellow basic
colouration is contributed by the genes of the already mentioned
complementary colours kite (dark check and bronze) and agate
(contribution of heterozygous recessive red). In the USA, the symbol
St was adopted, derived from Staenkede. For a long time, however,
the term ‘Almond factor’ was used, probably because most breeders
were not aware of the other sprinkled colour strokes at that time.
Even today, most breeders are not aware of the connections.
Fig. 6: Danish Tumblers tested by Christie and
Wriedt. Source: Zur Genetik der gesprenkelten Haustaube.
Zeitschrift für Induktive Abstammungs- und Vererbungslehre 38 (1925)
in German language. Figures hite with black sprinkles at different
age (1 and 2) and ‘light brown grey sprinkled’ (3 and 4) at
different age.
 
Fig. 7: Danish Tumbler ‘Grey Stipper’ and Danish
Tumblers ‘Brown Stipper’ from the author’s loft
Isabell - Dominant Opal
The puzzle of Isabell in the
colouring of the Brünner and Saxon Pouter with an ideally
cream-white ground colour, on which white bars were still visible,
has occupied genetically interested breeders for more than a
century. Mehlvin Ziehl had reported on his experiments and findings
in the American Pigeon Journal in the 1970s. Essential for Isabell
was, among other things, the factor Dominant Opal. With their
genetically less complex light blue relatives, they have the
white-yellow set-off wing bars or checks in common. The analysis was
complicated by the fact that homozygous Dominant Opals in are lethal
in both sexes. Once they emerged, they were white-grey and lived
only a few weeks or month. Today we know that they are best bred
with complementary colours. This also holds for other colorations
with this gene.
 
Fig. 8: Brünner Pouter Isabell at G. Prütz,
Illustrirtes Mustertaubenbuch, Hamburg o.J. (1885), Dominant Opal
Check from the author’s loft
Silver (Lavender) – Milky
The term silver was already
used in old literature for diluted blues. In Holland they wrote of
blue-silver. These terms are still used in breeding circles today.
At Lahore the silver-greys were already called silver (Lavalle and
Lietze 1905, Schachtzabel 1910) before W.F. Hollander had found out
that such a colouration can also be obtained by the hereditary
factor Milky in interaction with the colour spread factor. "The
reason for this foolish name ꟾmilkyꟾ was that the colour looked like
a blue pigeon that had been soaked with in milk" (Hollander 1983, p.
61). A blue pigeon dipped in milk! Blue powder was the name for a
while. With 'Spread Milky' the analogy to the milk pot seems
far-fetched. In addition to these lavenders, there are heterozygous
cocks for genetically ash-red/black ground colouring, showing the
bluish hue of the flowers of some sorts of lavender plants.
  
Fig. 9: Indian Fantail milky bar, Lahore Silver
(Lavender in the USA, genetically milky plus Spread at black base
colour, at the right lavender Pomeranian Eye Crested Highflyer
(heterozygous ash red/black plus Spread)
Rubella and Spread Rubella - Rubellan
The hereditary factor
Rubellan was discovered by Dr. Gerhard Knopf in racing pigeons. Some
of his pigeons resembled bar and check indigo. Somewhat more
distantly they resembled bar and check recessive opal and also
reduced coloureds with these patterns. However, the inheritance was
different from indigo and recessive opal. It corresponded to that of
Reduced. Compared to Rubella, the patterns were more intense. Later
it turned out that the factors are alleles. In the colouring of the
patterns, the discoverer of the novelty saw a similarity with the
reddish mineral Rubellan. The reddish flower colour of the Rubella
plant was not meant. After crosses with black, lighter and darker
silver-grey spread rubellan are produced in pure-bred rubellan cocks
and hemizygous females. Strikingly similar to the Spread Reduced,
Spread Recessive Opal and also Spread Platinum. But at best little
external connection to the namesake Rubellan.
 
Fig. 10: Rubella bar (young cock) and
Spread-Rubella hen from the author’s loft.
Andalusian - Indigo
The naming of Andalusians
follows a tortuous path. The hereditary factor 'indigo', on which
the colouration is based, was not discovered in Spain or in Spanish
pigeon breeds. Wendell M. Levi found and named 'Indigo' in the USA
in the 1940s after crossing farm pigeons with racing homers. From
white Carneau and blue racing homers there were some birds with a
bluish, indigo-coloured rump. From this derived the name for the
hereditary factor, indigo with the symbol In. When Spread was added
by mating with blacks, Spread Indigo was created. As W.F. Hollander
reported as a contemporary witness, Wendel M. Levi saw in it a
similarity to the blue colour in the chicken breed 'Andalusian'.
After imports from Spain, this breed had become popular in England
and later also in other countries in the blue colour: 'The Blue
Andalusian'. This is also written as title on the cover of a
monograph about the breed, which was published in the 2nd edition
under the pseudonym 'Silver Dun' in London in 1897. Blue in colour,
the region Andalusia as origin. In the pigeons it becomes 'coloured
like the chickens coming from Andalusia'. Like Rubellan, Indigo is
an original racing pigeon colour, which only was identified late in
pure-bred homer strains.
  
Fig. 11: Indigo check Racing Homer (heterozygous
Indigo with check pattern and black base color from the author’s
former racing strain); German Double-Crested Trumpeter Andalusian
(heterozygous Indigo plus Spread at black base colour), Andalusian
chicken colour, Source: Anonymous ‚Silver Dun‘, The Blue Andalusian,
2nd. ed. London 1897.
Conclusion
When considering the
designations of colour varieties of domestic pigeons, one should not
expect too strict scientific standards. They are suitable as a rough
guide. Genetic aspects could not play a major role in the naming and
classification of colourings in the beginning. Nevertheless, it is
admirable how early classifications in Bechstein 1807, Prütz 1885
and in other writings tried to bring a system into the initial
chaos. From the early naming of colourings such as Isabell (Dominant
Opal), Hyacinth (factors of the Toy-Stencil complex),
Lavender/Silver (Milky) or Almond (Stipper) one will not be able to
deduce any clues to the hereditary factors involved according to
today's knowledge or to colourings with strong genetic similarities.
A classification of
colourings also encounters problems due to multiplicative relations.
Isabell, for example, can be listed under Dominant Opal, it is at
the same time Recessive Red and barred in the pattern systems. This
understanding of colourations as a combination of hereditary factors
is the key to understanding colour inheritance in pigeons. Currently
re-promoted as a systematic and easy-to-understand introduction with
accompanying exercises in three languages.
 
Fig. 12: Cover showing in symbols the mating of
two pigeons with different genetic make-up in the genetic basic
colour, the patterns checks and bars and the Spread facto. At the
right gazzi blue bronze laced on the cover ‘Colourations in the
Domestic Pigeon 2005’.
Combinations of factors will
also result in colourings that no longer have much in common with
the name of the hereditary factor. This is already evident in the
book 'Pigeon Colouring' with more than 350 different colourings
classified primarily according to hereditary factors. It is becoming
apparent that in genetic explanations, the genetic constellation is
increasingly mentioned when naming a colouration.
Literature:
Anonymous ‚Silver Dun‘, The Blue Andalusian, 2nd.
ed. London 1897.
Bechstein, Johann Matthäus, Gemeinnützige Naturgeschichte
Deutschlands nach allen drey Reichen. Ein Handbuch zur deutlichern
und vollständigern Selbstbelehrung besonders für Forstmänner,
Jugendlehrern und Oekonomen, Dritter Band, Mit Kupfern, Zweite
vermehrte und verbesserte Auflage, Leipzig 1807.
Boitard, Pierre, et Corbié, Les Pigeons de volière
et de colombier ou histoire naturelle et monographie des pigeons
domestiques, Paris 1824.
Christie, W. and Chr. Wriedt 1925, Zur Genetik der gesprenkelten
Haustaube. Zeitschrift für Induktive Abstammungs- und
Vererbungslehre 38 (1925), 271-306.
Cole, Leon J., The Blue Color in Pigeons, The Auk, Vol. 35, No. 1
(Jan., 1918), p. 105.
Eaton, J.M., A Treatise on the Art of Breeding
and Managing the Almond Tumbler, London 1851.
Fulton, R., The Illustrated Book of Pigeons,
London, Paris, New York, Melbourne 1876.
Gesner, Conrad, Vogelbuch. Darin die art/natur und eigenschafft
aller vöglen / sampt jrer waren Contrafactur / angezeigt wirt: ...
Erstlich durch doctor Conradt Geßner in Latein beschriben: neüwlich
aber durch Rudolff Heüßlin mit fleyß in das Teütsch gebracht / und
in ein kurtze ordnung gestelt, Getruckt zu Zürich bey Christoffel
Froschouwer im Jar als man zalt M.D.LVII (1557).
Hollander, W.F., Origins and Excursions in Pigeon
Genetics, Burrton, Kansas 1938.
Lavalle, A., und Lietze, M. (Hrsg.), Die Taubenrassen, Berlin 1905
Levi, W.M., The Pigeon. Sumter, South Carolina
1941, revised 1957, reprinted with minor changes and additions
1963, reprinted 1969.
Prütz, G., Illustrirtes Mustertaubenbuch, Hamburg o.J. (1885).
Schachtzabel, E., Illustriertes Prachtwerk sämtlicher Tauben-Rassen,
Würzburg o.J. (1910)
Schulz, Jürgen, Cauchois. Portrait einer französischen Rassetaube,
herausgegeben vom SV Altendorf 1987
Sell, Axel and Jana, Taubenfärbung, Oertel und Spörer.
Colourations in the Domestic Pigeon. Les Couleurs
de Pigeon, Reutlingen 2005 (with summary in English and French, 176
pages).
Sell, Axel, Genetik der Taubenfärbungen, Achim 2015, 328 Seiten
(German language).
Sell, Axel, Introduction to Heredity in Pigeon,
Achim 2022 (80 pages plus 30 p. supplement exercises). Also Dutch
and French.
Sell, Axel, Pigeon Genetics. Applied Genetics in
the Domestic Pigeon, Achim 2012, 528 pages.
|
